Tomorrow night, I will be packing a Zipcar full of sound equipment and driving it from the WMBR radio station in the basement of Walker Memorial at MIT to the narrow drive leading to Aeronaut Brewing Company. And then Craig and I will set it all up, the band will arrive, and we will BROADCAST THEM LIVE.

Charles River Variety as I created it was always meant to be a live show: live sketch comedy, live creative writing readings, and live music. However, despite our best efforts to invite all our friends, every week, to join us in the control booth, we never have a true audience. This week, that all changes. The show will be savored by the teeming masses present at Aeronaut while also being streamed live over the airwaves resonating at 88.1 MHz (FM WMBR).

The Variety River Charlies rehearsing their super awesome set

In addition, it will be pushing our technical abilities even further than they’ve been stretched before–we’ve already outgrown the station’s basic equipment for putting bands on the air and settled into an astonishing competence with its advanced equipment. And because I never like feeling comfortable for too long, I started looking for opportunities to do the next hardest thing–a remote broadcast of a large music ensemble. A station member connected me with Aeronaut, I had Eli assemble the Variety River Charlies, and this thing started to look like it might actually happen. So, in twenty-four hours, I’ll be making it happen. Or watching it burn in beautiful, beautiful flames. We’ll see.

Either way, if you’re in Boston, come to Aeronaut and say hi! If you’re not, at 11 PM, tune in as always to the live stream on www.wmbr.org or on relevant WMBR iPhone/Android apps.